Creating events can sometimes seem like a race to stand still – as much as you innovate and introduce ever more new things to engage your attendees, they seem to want more. This post goes back to first principles and tries to give you some ideas about how to create an event that attendees will feel they can’t miss.
1. Be a risk taker
Roughly two-thirds of most budgets will go on “things they know are going to work,” says Emmanuelle Legault, vice president of marketing at conference partner Tourisme Montréal. This does not leave much left over to really do new things with. Instead of taking the safe option, challenging this budgeting assumption is one way to forge ahead. This can result in mistakes but this is not as bad as most organizers think, Legault again: “[attendees] expect to make mistakes and feel that to innovate you have to be wrong.”
2. Do the hard work before your doors open
If attendees really feel that they’ll benefit from attending the event, it’ll be hard to stop them attending. A great way of achieving this is by dealing with each one as an individual before the event starts by suggesting personalized networking opportunities, a possible schedule or potential meetings.
3. Get much more from your speakers
An area that you can be sure to get some traction from it is your speakers. If you get them to do some engagement with attendees before the show, to offer original speeches and above all add value, you’ll be on the right track. Conversely, if they rehash what they’ve been saying for years most attendees will have heard it before and never come back.
4. Hire a house band
A band can offer real color to an event and knowing life music is available can be a draw for some. Instead of boring piped music you can create something different. Legault, “They don't have to be famous. It's just a question of creating a disruption within the conference that made it more interesting and more fun”.
5. Use social media innovation
Social media offers so many possibilities for combining old and new things so ditch the walls of tweets and think out of the box.
6. Breath
When it comes to venue choice, you could be mistaken for thinking that some event organizers place a high value on ‘difficulty of escape’ or ‘lack of sunlight’. Let your attendees get outside and breathe. This will not just keep the smokers content, people will feel happier and interact much more if they’re outside in the sun.
We hope that this short insight is both useful and informative. We love working with event organizers, you’re some of the most innovative, interesting and fun people we know. While we cannot provide you with all the answers, we can offer you outstanding luxury ground transportation. Griffin Transportation offer guaranteed luxury, efficiency and a punctual arrival in Vancouver, BC or through our affiliates worldwide. We have one simple goal to provide the “Ultimate in Safety, Service and Satisfaction” to our many valued customers. Call us today to see how we can help you stage a truly un-missable event.
